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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

How to Add Molding to Mirrors

Hey guys! I don’t know about you, but I HATE the big slab mirrors builders always seem to put into new homes. We’ve been here about 4 1/2 years now and I couldn’t take it anymore! I decided I had to do something to improve the look of the mirror in my boys bathroom.
This is a picture of my boy’s bathroom BEFORE: .……………..
I’ve been working on giving it a little facelift and thought the mirror would be a great, quick project to help it along in it’s renovation.
I went to Lowes to find some molding. (have I mentioned that Lowes is my favorite store on planet earth?…guess I’ve said that a few times huh?!) Well, while at my favorite store, I found this molding…….

I believe, in the store, it was called Howe and it was $18.80 for an 8 ft long section…I had to buy two, but I sure couldn’t buy a huge framed mirror for that price, so it was still economical, but you could do this with any molding. (so you could go cheaper if you’d like)

First I measured my mirror, it was 36” wide, by 42” tall…I actually cut my wood a little bigger so you wouldn’t be able to see the mirrors edge when I installed the wood. I decided to make it 37” x 43”…..that gave me 1/2” all the way around to hide the edge of the mirror.

I set up my handy dandy miter saw………….

and put the setting to 45degrees, like this…

Then, with the thickest part of the molding (that will be your outside edge) to the back of the saw, you make a 45 degree cut toward the middle, like this…….
Then from the point of that cut, you measure the width (or height, depending on which piece you’re working on) and mark the back edge and make another 45 degree cut in the opposite direction.
You’ll end up with four pieces that look like this….
Pay close attention to the fact that you cut the ends at a 45 degree angle slanted in, so each piece is in the shape of a trapezoid. :0)
It really is that easy….just measure twice and cut once! You can always make another cut, but you can’t add the wood back on once it’s been cut off. :0) (also make sure your measurement are from point to point..that will be the measurement of your width or height of your mirror)
Ok….now this is an important thing to know…when you paint your pieces of wood, make SURE you paint the back of the edges, because they WILL reflect in the mirror and will show if they’re not painted. My wood came pre-primed, so all I had to do was give each piece a couple of coats of paint………including the backs!
To install the wood, use this……….
If you’ve never used a caulk gun before, I’m including a vlog of myself at the end of this post that shows you exactly how to use the gun…I promise it’s not hard. :0) (oh, and don’t make fun of my accent……I can’t help that I’m a southern girl!…and for some reason my lips look funny…ignore the lighting and just try to learn something! ) lol :0)
Apply the Loctite Power Grab to the back pieces of your wood like this….
A squiggly line works better than a straight line, but make sure not to get too close to either edge so it doesn’t ooze out the edges when you install it on the mirror.
I started by installing the bottom piece of wood first, then added each side piece…and finally the top. I made sure the cuts were lining up and everything was straight…

Then I used some painters tape to hold it in place while it dried….
After it dried, I caulked any cracks where the mitered edges came together and just touched up the paint.

This pictures is the reflection of the back of the piece of the molding in the mirror….this is why I said you need to paint the back edges of the molding. They REFLECT! :0)

Here’s the finished mirror! I still have to put in all the new things I bought, but you can at least see the after pic of the mirror.
MUCH better, don’t ya think?!
I’m going to be doing something with that vanity soon….I’m not sure whether to paint it, just buy new knobs or what. Any suggestions or ideas?
Okay..here’s my VLOG if you’d like to learn how to use a caulking gun.

This looks SO great, Missy! Can you believe I've been wanting to do this on our mirror for 25 years? Ridiculous! We have a similar vanity, just a little larger- I primed and painted it white and added knobs- even made our countertop look good!

Missy I love your Vlog! Nice to hear your voice and see you in a video! I thought you looked great and sounded great....didn't notice anything strange about your lips either! lol You did a great job framing out that mirror. We had that problem in our last house but the mirror was much bigger. It looked like something out of a public bathroom. Wwe eventually took it down and went with a ready made white cabinet with mirror(wood). Great tip about painting the inside lip of the wood frame. I did the same thing on a mirror I picked up at a garage sale and had to take it apart when I noticed the reflection. Great job girl!~Hugs, Patti

Your frame looks fabulous. My problem is the builder also put a medecine cabinet on the side wall where you have a towel ring and it is really close to the corner and the mirror. Havn't figured that one out yet. Hugs, Marty

Love your new molding! Great vlog!!! I knew who was behind the camera before you told :)Great tips about caulk. I LOVE caulk!fyi newer caulk guns actually have a pointy thing on them to break the seal. I have two, one does and the other doesn't, can you guess which one I use?lowes? bah! I'm a home depot girl! hahahagail

Nice vlog (is this a new word?-It is for me!) Your mirror looks wonderful. I just read about a kit from Rustoleum that is for cabinets. I want to try it out next summer as my bathrooms and kitchen are looking weary...30 years old.♥♫

I love this idea! I saw it around the internet before and wanted to try it in our old house...I didn't get around to it before we sold. Now, our new house has plenty of slab mirrors and I am itching to make some magic!!

I know you are dying to see the inside and I will show you...no decor, boxes everywhere and all!

I have the pictures, we got our internet today and I need to get a move on!!

It's meant to be! I've been wanting to put a frame on the slab mirror in my kids' bathroom after we redid it recently. I've been putting it off since school started (I teach). I woke up today with a desire to do get it done. Took a few minutes to read some blogs and there was your post. Inspiration to get it done today! Thanks!

Missy, this post and all of your photos were so incredibly helpful. My husband and I accomplished this project on our guest bath mirror this weekend and were given so much insight from your helpful tips, photos and suggestions. Thank you so much for inspiring us to try something new!

I have been wanting to take on this project in my bathrooms, however, I am not sure if it will work because there is a track on top and bottom of the mirrors. This makes the perimeter of my mirror is uneven. Do you have any suggestions on how to make this work? I am so tired of my plain old mirrors.... :-/thank you

I just watched this... and it made me feel so close!! :) I wish I could learn to use a miter saw... I should have taken lessons from you while I was living there! lol I have a mirror that I need to do this to...Thanks for this great video demonstration, I think I could definitely do this now!!.